The man who found a burned and beaten Celeste Fronsman on a remote road told jurors that she named the culprits: Katrina Culberson and “Fonse.”

“Fonse” is the nickname of LaFonse Dixon, the 34-year-old Canton man on trial in the death of Fronsman in August 2012.

Monday was Day 5 in the trial. Two co-defendants — Culberson, 22, of Canton, and Monica Washington, 25, of Canton — already have pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated murder, aggravated arson and kidnapping. Dixon, who faces the same charges, could be sentenced to death if convicted.

According to the prosecution, and in testimony from both Culberson and Washington last week, the two women and Dixon took Fronsman — bound and beaten in the back seat — in a Chevy Tahoe from Canton to rural Muskingum County. Culberson led them to a remote area near state Route 208 and Steel Hill Road, where Fronsman was set on fire and left engulfed in flames as the trio drove back to Stark County.

Monday’s testimony by Mark Bretz, of Newark, was gripping and highly emotional. The courtroom was tense as the jury and spectators listened to the man describe how he found Fronsman with skin hanging off her body from severe burns on a sunny late summer morning.

“She falls in my arms, she’s looking up at me, she says, ‘Help me,’ ” Bretz recounted in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court. Asked by Prosecutor Michael Haddox to describe the condition of Fronsman, the witness said, “She’s just totally petrified.”

GIVING NAMES

Bretz had been on his way home from taking a cow to a meat locker. The weather was pristine. And he was planning to take his family to church. In searing detail, Bretz recalled when he saw Fronsman on the road. He thought it was a deer. Then the naked woman got up.

Referring to a movie scene, he said that Fronsman was “totally scorched,” with a small amount of hair left on her head and burns and bruises on her body. Fronsman also was bleeding, Bretz said. She was so disfigured that when other motorists stopped to offer help, he blocked their view of the woman.

Eventually he asked her who left her on the verge of death. He paused during testimony. “Katrina Culberson,” he said Fronsman uttered. The victim begged him not to leave her side. He carried her into the grass. She told him she couldn’t breathe. That’s when he discovered a tow strap wrapped around her neck. “As I loosened it up, skin just pulled away,” Bretz said.

And he got her a blanket, and then later paper to write on.

Fronsman spelled Culberson’s name for him. After the first few letters, Bretz urged her to save her breath. A short while later, Bretz said, she voiced another name: “Fonse.” Bretz said he didn’t ask for more information. Moments later, in an unclear, gargling voice, Fronsman also said, “Washington,” according to the prosecution witness.

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During that portion of the testimony, Dixon showed no visible reaction.

AT HER SIDE

Tending to Fronsman, he recalled, the woman told him she was going to be ugly. “No,” Bretz assured her."You’re going to be beautiful forever.” Then, she said, “I’m going to die.”

Waiting for medics to arrive, Bretz said, he took Fronsman by the hands and prayed: “Open up the pearly gates, let the angels take her and make her better,” the witness recalled. Fronsman opened her eyes, and said, “Thank you,” he testified.

At one point he helped her sip Gatorade. Fronsman moaned: “I hurt so bad, I hurt so bad.”

The odor of burnt skin “will stick with me for the rest of my life,” he told jurors.

When medics arrived, and then tried to move Fronsman, skin fell off as she screamed in pain, Bretz said. So he helped the woman to her feet, and she got on the stretcher, he said, later noting how he marveled at her strength and will to live.

CROSS EXAMINATION

Bretz’s testimony recreated the scene. But it also was key in the prosecution’s attempt to convince the jury that Dixon was the third member of the group that beat, strangled and burned the Canton woman so badly that she died two days later in a hospital.

Defense attorney Isabella Dixon, no relation to the defendant, asked the witness about Fronsman’s weak voice in answering questions. Sometimes he could understand her clearly, Bretz testified. Other times he couldn’t.

Later, Fronsman also mentioned Washington, without providing a first name, said Bretz, who often paused, his eyes moistening as he chronicled that morning. Other times he bowed his head before answering.

The attorney focused on Bretz writing one name on the paper that he later gave to a sheriff’s investigator: “Katrina Culberson.”

He explained: “We have great detectives. I figured (one name) would give them a head start ... “

Earlier in the trial, an investigator said that Bretz had provided Culberson’s name but didn’t mention Dixon — a point seized on by the defense during his testimony.

DNA EXPERT

Earlier Monday, a DNA analyst with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said that DNA consistent with both Dixon and Fronsman was found on a roll of masking tape the prosecution says is linked to the murder of Fronsman. Culberson and Washington both testified the tape was used to bind the victim’s hands.

Kristen Slaper said that testing results could not exclude Dixon as a contributor to the DNA. Dixon and Fronsman were major contributors to the DNA on the masking tape, she said.

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Slaper faced aggressive questioning from defense attorney Larry Thomas. He pointed out that the odds were far lower than those cited for DNA found inside the Chevy Tahoe — on some objects — consistent with Fronsman’s. In that case, the expert testified, the odds of someone else sharing the same DNA profile were staggering — the number so high it would take several Earths to find them.